Chapter 29 – Where Fire Meets Fate
The wind followed them like a ghost.
Nova and Bea moved through the hollow streets, boots echoing against stone, hearts beating in unison. Shadows curved like question marks against the alley walls, but neither of them flinched. They had danced with darkness too many times to fear its presence now.
Bea held a flashlight in one hand and Nova's fingers in the other. "We're almost there."
"Are you sure this is the place?" Nova asked, her voice low, but steady.
Bea nodded. "It's where the first fire was set. Where it all began."
They reached a rusted iron gate. Beyond it lay an abandoned warehouse wrapped in ivy and ash. Its windows were shattered, its walls scorched by time—but it still stood. Just like them.
Nova hesitated.
Bea turned to her, brushing her fingers against Nova's cheek. "Whatever's waiting in there, we face it together."
Nova met her eyes. "Always."
Inside, the air was heavy with soot and silence. Their footsteps stirred up the dust of old memories. Scorch marks painted the floor—wounds left behind by the same man they once trusted, once loved, once feared.
Nova stepped forward, eyes scanning the wreckage. Then she saw it.
A mark on the wall. Burned into the bricks.
A symbol.
Her breath caught. "Bea… it's his."
The sigil wasn't just any mark. It was their enemy's seal—the one he'd left on every betrayal. And beneath it, a message in smeared charcoal:
"I never left."
Bea clenched her fists. "He's baiting us."
Nova's voice shook. "Or warning us."
They turned as a sound echoed behind them—a floorboard groaning under pressure. They weren't alone.
"Nova…" Bea whispered.
"I know."
Their eyes met. Not with fear. But fire.
Because this time, they weren't the ones running.
This time, the flame was theirs.